The nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty was first recorded by Lewis Caroll for his book "Alice Through The Looking Glass. In the 1500's Humpty Dumpty was a not very nice nick name used to refer to overweight people. It only makes sense that in his book for children a heavy person might be imagined as an egg. So who was Humpty Dumpty? Is this just nonsense? This is another one of those mysteries that is lost to history, but their are some fun theories.
Humpty Dumpty might be Charles I, calling him "large" could be a way of poking fun at an unpopular king. He was deposed by the Puritan, Oliver Cromwell and fell from power. Those still loyal to him could not restore his power and he was executed in 1649.
The theory I like best is that Humpty Dumpty might be a cannon. During the second British Civil war Colchester was suring up its defenses. One of the churches referred to as "St. Mary's by the Wall" had a tower and was well placed for defense of said wall. Many cities at this time were walled against attack. So the men of the town managed to lug a gigantic cannon ( as all canons were at the time) to the top of the church tower. This is our mysterious Humpty Dumpty, the very chubby cannon. During the assault on Colchester the cannon was fired into the enemy's lines, naturally causing the enemy to fire back. The tower was very damaged causing the cannon to fall from the roof. The cannon was very damaged, as things are wont to be when they fall three stories and could not be returned to working order. Later Colcheseter was forced to surrender and open their gates
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